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Anomalous X-ray pulsar

About: Anomalous X-ray pulsar is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 213 publications have been published within this topic receiving 22097 citations.


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01 Nov 2010
TL;DR: A decade of X-ray sources and their evolution is described in this paper, with a focus on the formation and evolution of super-soft sources and the formation of compact stellar sources.
Abstract: 1. Accreting neutron stars and black holes: a decade of discoveries D. Psaltis 2. Rapid X-ray variability M. van der Klis 3. New views of thermonuclear bursts T. Strohmayer and L. Bildsten 4. Black hole binaries J. McClintock and R. Remillard 5. Optical, ultraviolet and infrared observations of X-ray binaries P. Charles and M. Coe 6. Fast X-ray transients and X-ray flashes J. Heise and J. in 't Zand 7. Isolated neutron stars V. Kaspi, M. Roberts and A. Harding 8. Globular cluster X-ray sources F. Verbunt and W. Lewin 9. Jets from X-ray binaries R. Fender 10. X-Rays from cataclysmic variables E. Kuulkers, A. Norton, A. Schwope and B. Warner 11. Super soft sources P. Kahabka and E. van den Heuvel 12. Compact stellar X-ray sources in normal galaxies G. Fabbiano and N. White 13. Accretion in compact binaries A. King 14. Soft gamma repeaters and anomalous X-ray pulsars: magnetar candidates P. Woods and C. Thompson 15. Cosmic gamma-ray bursts, their afterglows, and their host galaxies K. Hurley, R. Sari and S. Djorgovski 16. Formation and evolution of compact stellar X-ray sources T. Tauris and E. van den Heuvel.

3,100 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that a convective dynamo can also generate a very strong dipole field after the merger of a neutron star binary, but only if the merged star survives for as long as about 10-100 ms.
Abstract: It is proposed that the main observational signature of magnetars, high-field neutron stars, is gamma-ray bursts powered by their vast reservoirs of magnetic energy. If they acquire large recoils, most magnetars are unbound from the Galaxy or reside in an extended, weakly bound Galactic corona. There is evidence that the soft gamma repeaters are young magnetars. It is argued that a convective dynamo can also generate a very strong dipole field after the merger of a neutron star binary, but only if the merged star survives for as long as about 10-100 ms. Several mechanisms which could impart a large recoil to these stars at birth, sufficient to escape from the Galactic disk, are discussed.

2,482 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the decay rate of the core field is a very strong function of temperature and therefore of the magnetic flux density, which is not present in the decay of the weaker fields associated with ordinary radio pulsars.
Abstract: We calculate the quiescent X-ray, neutrino, and Alfven wave emission from a neutron star with a very strong magnetic field, Bdipole ~ 1014 − 1015 G and Binterior ~ (5–10) × 1015 G. These results are compared with observations of quiescent emission from the soft gamma repeaters and from a small class of anomalous X-ray pulsars that we have previously identified with such objects. The magnetic field, rather than rotation, provides the main source of free energy, and the decaying field is capable of powering the quiescent X-ray emission and particle emission observed from these sources. New features that are not present in the decay of the weaker fields associated with ordinary radio pulsars include fracturing of the neutron star crust, strong heating of its core, and effective suppression of thermal conduction perpendicular to the magnetic field. As the magnetic field is forced through the crust by diffusive motions in the core, multiple small-scale fractures are excited, as well as a few large fractures that can power soft gamma repeater bursts. The decay rate of the core field is a very strong function of temperature and therefore of the magnetic flux density. The strongest prediction of the model is that these sources will show no optical emissions associated with X-ray heating of an accretion disk.

1,128 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
21 May 1998-Nature
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reported the discovery of pulsations in the persistent X-ray flux of SGR1806-20, with a period of 7.47 s and a spindown rate of 2.6 x 10(exp -3) s/yr.
Abstract: Soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) emit multiple, brief (approximately O.1 s) intense outbursts of low-energy gamma-rays. They are extremely rare; three are known in our galaxy and one in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Two SGRs are associated with young supernova remnants (SNRs), and therefore most probably with neutron stars, but it remains a puzzle why SGRs are so different from 'normal' radio pulsars. Here we report the discovery of pulsations in the persistent X-ray flux of SGR1806-20, with a period of 7.47 s and a spindown rate of 2.6 x 10(exp -3) s/yr. We argue that the spindown is due to magnetic dipole emission and find that the pulsar age and (dipolar) magnetic field strength are approximately 1500 years and 8 x 10(exp 14) gauss, respectively. Our observations demonstrate the existence of 'magnetars', neutron stars with magnetic fields about 100 times stronger than those of radio pulsars, and support earlier suggestions that SGR bursts are caused by neutron-star 'crust-quakes' produced by magnetic stresses. The 'magnetar' birth rate is about one per millenium, a substantial fraction of that of radio pulsars. Thus our results may explain why some SNRs have no radio pulsars.

980 citations

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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20202
20171
20143
20136
20123
20116